Montreal man suspected of terrorism links

MONTREAL -- A Moroccan man labeled a threat to Canada's national security has been arrested in Montreal, reportedly on suspicion he has ties to a convicted terrorist in the United States.

Adil Charkaoui, who has lived in Canada since 1995, was detained on Wednesday, said Nicole Currier of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

A May 16 warrant for his arrest, filed in Federal Court in Ottawa, states there are "reasonable grounds" to believe he is a danger to national security.

Canada's top security official, Solicitor General Wayne Easter, and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre also have signed a security certificate that designates Charkaoui a threat to national security and authorizes his immediate deportation with federal court approval.

Authorities refused to provide further details, but sections of the law cited in the arrest warrant state a person is inadmissible to Canada on security grounds for "engaging in terrorism," "being a danger to the security of Canada" and being a member of a suspected terrorist organization.

Court documents in the case were sealed, but newspaper reports based on unidentified sources said authorities accused Charkaoui of associating with Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who lived in Montreal's Muslim community in the 1990s.

Ressam was convicted in April 2001 in the United States of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport during millennium celebrations.

Like Ressam, Charkaoui is suspected of having trained in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan, unidentified sources told Montreal newspapers.

In a telephone call from detention Friday to The Associated Press, Charkaoui said Canadian authorities are trying to make an example out of him to show the United States they are combating terrorism.

"It's a political affair. I am accused of no crime," he said. "Canada didn't join the war against Iraq and now it wants to make steps to mend differences."

He said he was once interrogated for 12 hours by the FBI during a flight change from Morocco at John F. Kennedy International Airport before being let go.

"If I'm such a threat, you think they would have let me go?" he asked.

Charkaoui claimed Canadian intelligence services have been trying to recruit him for years to spy on the Muslim community.

A woman who answered the phone Friday at Charkaoui's address and identified herself as his mother said he turns 30 years old in July.